BANDOENG, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. - Since February 1927 the Order of the Holy Cross (Crocigeri) has promoted the systematic evangelization of the natives of that part of the vicariate of Batavia which, detached from it and erected into a prefecture (1932), was raised to a vicariate on 16 October 1941.
Area of the territory, included in the western part of Java: 24,449.25 sq. km; population: 6,532,457 inhabitants, almost all Sundanese. Catholics (1948): 19,335 (18,250 Europeans; the others mostly Javanese, the remainder Chinese); catechumens, 130. Missionary activity is carried out in 7 principal and 4 secondary stations by 20 priests of the Holy Cross and 1 native priest, eight Brothers of St. Luigi Gonzaga of Oudenbosch, and 127 nuns.
There are 11 elementary schools with 3,731 pupils; 2 middle schools with 206 pupils, and one higher school with 38 female pupils. Two hospitals with 295 beds and 4 orphanages with 272 children.
Contact with the Sundanese, fanatical Muslims, is difficult, owing to the bad examples and ill-treatment they have suffered at the hands of the colonizers; the Javanese and Chinese elements are more open to Catholic influence. Recognized teachers emerge from the boarding schools, and they also form the nuclei of future Christian families.